[discuss] Internet governance recommended reading

[Brian E Carpenter]

On 04/01/2014 22:00, Jorge Amodio wrote:
> Some may have seen the announcement on the GIGANET list, so apologies in
> advance for the extra info.
> 
> There is a very interesting new book about Internet governance:
> 
> The Global War for Internet Governance
> by Laura DeNardis
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H0M9778/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00H0M9778&linkCode=as2&tag=pesakjoambl-20
> 
> I still have a big chunk remaining to read but so far looks very
> interesting, some people may or not agree with some parts, but it may
> provide a good framework to further structure and focus some of the
> discussions we are having around here.
> 
> First thing I liked, she talks about "Internet governance" not "Governance"

Due to some issues with our Uni's e-book access, I have only seen some
of the text so far.

Beware of inaccuracies (as in her previous book, which misquoted me,
for example). One I found so far is this (Chapter 3 ,p. 70):

"An area director (AD) leads each working group
and these ADs, along with the chair of the IETF, comprise a governance
body called the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), which presents
Internet draft standards to the Internet Architecture Board for consultation
as formal Internet standards."

1. ADs do not lead working groups; they have chairs.
2. The IAB has been out of the loop on approving standards since 1992.

I hope this is an exceptional error, since false data leads to
false conclusions. But on the next page, another misstatement:

"The Internet Society was actually created out of the IETF
in 1992..."

Note, I'm not saying it's all nonsense by any means, but as for her
previous book[1], a robust review by a few members of the technical
community would have helped this book a lot.

   Brian

[1] Protocol Politics: The Globalization of Internet Governance,
by Laura DeNardis, MIT Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-26204257-4.
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac123/ac147/archived_issues/ipj_12-4/124_bookreview.html